James Vowles has been backed to lead Williams to Formula 1 glory by one of the team's top driving starlets.
Vowles joined the team in February 2023 having made his name as strategy chief at Mercedes. He was a key part of Toto Wolff's staff and a big loss to the Silver Arrows when he decided to leave to take on the huge task of turning around F1's sleeping giants.
Williams have been in a sorry mess for years and there remains plenty of work to be done. But there are green shoots of revival and Vowles has been pretty much universally praised for the work he has done so far at Grove.
You can add Franco Colapinto to the list of his admirers. The Argentine Formula 2 racer is a member of the Williams driver academy and, having watched his boss' work up close, is excited for what the future holds.
He told Mirror Sport: "[Vowles] is a super talented guy, I think, and also a very nice person to work with. Everyone says that at Williams. He's pushed the team so far forward since he joined and we've seen so many changes and differences since he arrived.
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"He did a pretty big turnaround of the situation in the team - we can see that in the results, but there is so much more to come. He's an extremely professional person with so much experience and he has won so many championships and been in the best team.
"The place where he is at now, we can really use his talent to really bring the team forward and I'm sure he will do that. Of course, he's always the one making the important decisions with the bosses and owners. I don't know exactly how that works, but he's a super important person in the team.
Franco Colapinto is eyeing a future in F1 with Williams (Formula Motorsport Limited via G)"He always gives a lot of advice to us as young drivers and he has been really supportive and shown a lot of interest in helping us with different things. It is very helpful to have him. For us academy drivers, he has been a really good person to work with and learn from."
Williams have a driver vacancy for 2025 with the struggling Logan Sargeant set to be replaced. Vowles said in Montreal on Saturday that Carlos Sainz is his "number one" target for that seat and Williams face a battle with Audi for the Spaniard's signature.
Even if they miss out on Sainz, Williams are likely to turn to more experienced options over their academy this time. But the team does have a strong track record of promoting its junior drivers and giving them a chance in F1 - which is exactly what Colapinto wants to do.
The 21-year-old is biding his time, though, and insists he is not wasting any time thinking about his future right now. he said: "I would love to race in Formula 1. Right now, I'm just focusing on Formula 2 and I'm not really into that. I know my managers are doing their best, as always, to find the best seat possible for next year.
"I don't know how that is developing, to be honest, but it has been my dream since I was super young and started racing karts to get to Formula 1. That's why I came to Europe so young. To have the opportunity to join Williams last year was very special - for sure the highlight of my career so far was to drive a Formula 1 car in Abu Dhabi [last December] and to achieve, for the first time, my dream since I was very young.
"They have been super supportive of me and in my first year with them they have already put me in a Formula 1 car. I don't think many teams do that! Of course, my goal is a bit further than only a test and we are working together to first of all do a good job in Formula 2, which is the most important thing. And then the rest will come slowly, but I'm not worried about it yet."
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